-chapter title by kai<3

WARNINGS:
-near death experiences
-mentions of posion and its effects
-sirius saying some very nasty words to reg
-fainting

Climbing outside through a tiny window in a toilet room was not fun. Especially when they landed on a pile of garbage sacks. As fast as possible, they all crawled out of the trash, trying to contain their disgust to the minimum as they had to come up with a plan on how to leave Harrisburg without getting caught by the police. "We need a new car."

"Oh wow, I really didn't think of that." Regulus' tone just dripped with sarcasm as he threw a glare at Sirius.

"I'm sorry for stating our problem!" The boy immediately tried defending himself.

"Well, the problem is already obvious enough, douchebag," the Roman demigod grumbled.

"You're a douchebag!"

A loud sigh interrupted them. "Guys, let's focus on the current situation." James looked at both of them beseechingly, and honestly, who could say no to that cute face?

"Good idea," Regulus agreed, then immediately turned to look at their surroundings. They had landed in some sort of courtyard. Not a pretty one. By the walls, lots of garbage stacked up high enough to reach the windows, but not further up, presumably to keep a free view out of said windows. Otherwise there wasn't much, just a ground full with tiny pebble stones and an ugly, grey garden house next to a fenced in, rampant grown herb garden. All in all, nothing special. There was a way outside without having to go through any more houses, though, which was where they decided to go. They had to keep themselves low, praying no one would see them straying along the streets; hoping they would find a way out of this city.

Luckily no one had taken any pictures of them while they were in that car so there were only vague descriptions going around. It made the whole walking zigzag across the streets easier despite the occasional police car driving by. They tried hiding from them anyways, just in case someone would decide they looked suspicious.

The three were just walking next to a waste disposal site when the next police officers approached in their vehicles, to which they quickly shuffled into the disposal site, crouching behind a pile of garbage until the car had disappeared down the street. With a loud sigh, James let himself fall back on the gravel, hands running through his hair. "Why did we even decide to take that poor man's car? I knew it wasn't a good idea! Stealing is never a good idea!"

"Why didn't you say that earlier?" Regulus asked, head whipping around to look at the boy sitting in pebbles and dirt.

"Because I didn't have a better idea. At least the car is getting back to its rightful owner now," the walnut-skinned boy mumbled, hands now supporting his weight to not fall backwards.

Sirius sighed, sitting next to him. "Now we don't have transportation, though. How are we supposed to ever be able to leave this city ever again?" His eyes trailed over the pile of plastic bags and whatever junk people liked to throw away.

Biting his lip, Reg mirrored the two boy's position, wishing they had another car that no one would miss if they borrowed it. "We still have the map, that's good. We just need a car." A strange feeling unfolded in his chest, almost like pressure and he closed his eyes for a second, suddenly feeling immensely tired.

"Uh, guys?" Sirius' voice seemed as if it was far away and piercing straight through his head like a needle at the same time.

"Shut up," the curly-head mumbled, feeling a headache coming up. James gently nudged him in the shoulder, and he grumpily opened his eyes, turning to look at whatever they discovered.

"Was this here before?" the son of Apollo asked, facing something that was behind Regulus' back. A little annoyed that he couldn't see it while sitting, the younger one got up, immediately staggering with sudden dizziness. Before he could fall again, James caught him, arm around his waist to keep him on his feet. "Whoa there." But Regulus just looked at the old, dark blue Toyota standing in front of them. It was a little (very) beaten up, and there was hardly a chance that its motor would even turn on.

Sirius' voice was downright delighted, when he exclaimed, "A 96' Toyota Corolla!"

"This definitely wasn't here before." Had he used his powers by accident? He'd never attracted such a huge thing ever any time in his life until right this moment. "I think-" But he didn't get to finish his sentence, vision blacking out and his body sagging against James' seconds before his consciousness faded out.

The next time Regulus opened his eyes again, the taste of ginger tea on his tongue, he stared up at a car's ceiling. Where was he? Slowly, he sat up, head buzzing when he spotted James in the driver's seat looking through his rucksack while Sirius scowled at the map Regulus had packed, continuously asking the other questions about the geography. Apparently the sound of him shuffling around had caught James' attention, because he dismissed his best friend's babbling and instead turned to look at him. Loud rain droplets hammered down on the car as the boy's concerned frown turned to a relieved smile. "You're awake!"

"Yeah. What happened?" Regulus murmured, hand tucking a few curls behind his ear.

"You fainted," Sirius blurted out, with James nodding in agreement. "And then it started to rain, so we needed some shelter. The car was unlocked so we decided to sit here for the time being and wait for you to wake up before we made any more decisions."

"I gave you some nectar but it didn't wake you up so we waited a few more moments," James added, still looking relieved that the curly-head was awake. "What happened?"

"Um." Regulus blinked. "I think I summoned the car."

Now two very surprised and shocked faces were staring at him. "You what? I thought you were a son of Venus, what does that have to do with cars?" Sirius scowled, obviously annoyed at his super power that had to do with cars.

Rolling his eyes at the car-nerd, Reg explained, "I can attract things that fit into the surroundings. Like if I'm in the woods and need a stick of a specific length, I'll find it laying on the ground somewhere. I've never attracted a huge thing like an empty car on a garbage side before, though. Which is probably why I suddenly fainted."

James' eyes sparkled. "That's an awesome power!"

"Not if he faints," Sirius mumbled.

"True," the youngest of the three replied. Then he narrowed his eyes at Sirius.

"Oh, yeah," James agreed as well. "Well, I just wanted to say, it's a little bit late to drive around any more tonight and I definitely won't have the mental patience or strength for it, either. So how about we go to sleep for the night and continue our trip tomorrow?"

To that, no one had a complaint, so they settled in for the night. Sirius and James turned their back rests down and Regulus tried his best to snuggle into the sitting area of the back seats. It wasn't really comfortable, but better than sleeping on the streets. Or in the rain.

The next morning, James checked whether the car would even turn on – it did, which made them cheer – and they decided to leave the city after they had a little snack. Regulus and Sirius changed seats again, because "Reg knows how to handle a map". When they were finally back on the highway, they all sighed in relief.

"Camp Jupiter, we're coming!" James announced, grinning. He was speeding past cars as he went, chatting lightly with Sirius while Regulus gave occasional inputs. For some reason, they all were in a great mood. Almost too great.

After a few hours, their petrol ran out. Because the hunger had been growing for a while for all three of them, they decided that James would fill up with gas while Sirius and Regulus went to get snacks from the little shop – an allocation of tasks that Regulus didn't appreciate too much, but when he tried to protest, James just said it was the most effective way. So he shut up. At the petrol station, the trio jumped out of the car, everyone ready to fulfil their part.

"We should take this," Sirius suggested, throwing a box of something into their basket. The younger looked at what it was and sighed. They were Pop Tarts.

"No," Reg decided and put them away.

Offended, Sirius gasped. "Excuse me? Pop Tarts, especially S'Mores are the best thing to ever exist! We're taking them with us."

But Regulus just gritted his teeth, shaking his head, "I said no."

"You're not the one to decide that!" He shook his head. "You're the youngest, the one from this weird Roman camp. You're an outsider and nothing more," Sirius told him, every single word feeling like needles piercing into his skin.

"Shut up," Reg said hoarsely, feeling the pressure building behind his eyes. He was not going to cry right now. He just wasn't. Teeth grinding so hard together to cause pain in his jaw, the younger boy turned away from his brother, blinking hard to prevent tears from pooling in his eyes.

"No, listen." Hesitantly, Regulus looked back at him, expecting the worst. "I don't understand why you seem to hate me so much, but you don't get to command me around. You hardly even know me, so don't you dare tell me what I am allowed to do and what not," Sirius continued, his finger sticking out at him and suddenly he reminded him of the nanny they had after Minnie. Her name was Walburga and she was awful. Why did Sirius act like her now?

Gulping hard to keep the tears inside, he dropped the basket. "Fine," he said, his voice trembling. He'd prefer it to be more steady. "Finish this on your own. I'm leaving." Without waiting for a response or staying to watch Sirius' reaction, he turned around and rushed down the aisle, just wanting to get out of there as soon as possible.

Instead of going back to James, Regulus ran to the back of the store, sitting on the ground next to a pile of garbage sacks and pulling his legs to his chest. Finally, he let the tears roll down his cheeks, face hiding in his arms that he had rested on his knees. Fuck Sirius. Fuck his brother. Fuck his father. Fuck the gods.

The pain spread in his chest and he felt like he was ripping apart, piece by piece. Everything he wanted was to be at home, where he belonged. Away from Sirius, away from James, away from Orion and away from those stupid Greeks. All they brought upon him was trouble and pain. He had enough of that.

A growling ripped him out of his state, heart suddenly racing as if it was trying to alert him of something. With a shaky breath, he slowly raised his head, only to find a chihuahua baring its teeth at him, growling aggressively. His first instinct was to grab for his dagger, though he tried to keep in mind that he was looking at a tiny dog.

Then the dog slowly grew bigger, almost big enough to match the size of the small convenience store, while its head turned into a lion's head with a mane red as blood, a body like a goat's – front legs matching a lion's paws and back legs becoming goat hooves – and a tail that looked like a huge snake. Immediately, Regulus was on his feet, absentmindedly wiping away the dried tear trails prickling on his skin. "Merde," he mumbled, wishing he hadn't run off like that. His dagger was already in his hand, rucksack laying abandoned on the ground behind him.

The Chimaera roared, followed by fire exiting its mouth with a single breath. Quickly, Regulus rolled to the side to dodge the heat. Black bags filled with rubbish caught the fire and now burned brightly. Gods, there was no way he would survive against this monster. Not if he was alone. But how could he alert James without screaming across the parking space? There was no way.

"Perite. Vescere bracis meis, filius canis," the boy told the monster, his knuckles turning white with his strong grip on the dagger as he kept avoiding the Chimera jumping at him and spewing fire. Suddenly, the Chimera took another leap, but instead of managing to dodge, he slipped and landed on the pebbles. He could feel the tiny stones scratching his back to the point of reddening the skin. The Chimera was standing above him, its serpent tail sinking its teeth into his calf. Immediately, a loud yelp escaped him as the poison rushed into his blood. "Va te faire enculer," he cried out, poorly trying to scoot away when another breath of fire was directed at him.

Pearls of sweat formed on his forehead, fire burning his arm and singing part of his hair. He wanted to cry. Again. Physical pain seemed to tear him apart at the seams and pebbles dug into his palm when he tried sitting up. Just as the Chimaera finally decided to stop playing and bite his head off, someone called out, "Hey you!" The sound of James' voice was such a relief, Regulus struggled to hold back a sob. "Don't mess with my friends!"

Immediately, the Chimera lost interest in Regulus and turned around to take on James. He wanted to scream "no!", wanted to stop the Chimera from hurting the boy, too and let it just eat him instead. Maybe it was a stupid thought, especially because even if the Chimaera would kill Regulus, it would go over to kill James right after. "Fuck," he breathed out, once because the Chimera just hit James with one of its fire breaths and also because he could feel the poison start to drain his energy. "Putain, cane, chier, irrumator!" Despite his arms and legs starting to go numb with burning pain, Regulus did his best to come up with all his strength and push himself into a standing position.

"What an idiot you are!" a new voice shouted and the curly-head vaguely recognised his brother running towards him to steady him. "Stay the fuck here and don't die."

Sirius helped him sit back down and then rushed to James' aid who wasn't looking much better than Regulus, but still seemed to be able to move around quickly. Reg had trouble concentrating on the fight going on, his vision blurring together to red and grey and the eventual bronze glint, but he prayed to all the gods – Roman, Greek, Norse, whatever the fuck else – that they were winning the fight. He wouldn't be able to stand losing either of them (though he wouldn't dare admitting that out loud). Finally, the loud roaring ended and he willed himself to focus his vision again to see what was happening.

James dropped to the ground, various burns covering his body. Without hesitation, Sirius dropped onto his knees to check in on the walnut-skinned boy. He didn't look much better than James, face and arms scraped up and burned. The Chimera was nowhere to be seen. "Don't die, don't die, don't die," Sirius mumbled and suddenly it hit Regulus like a truck.

Only when the light has gone out will the family be together.

Someone was going to die. James was going to die. "The light" could only be him, right? He was a son of Apollo, who else could be light? Anyone else wouldn't make sense. Tears started rolling down his face and despite his legs almost immediately giving out underneath him from the pain and his weight as soon as he managed to get up, he managed to take tiny steps until he arrived by the other two, knees buckling as soon as he reached his destination. His eyes kept unfocusing and his head was about to explode, just like his arms felt numb from burning pain and his legs as if they weren't his. When Sirius said something, he understood half the sentence clearly, before Reg's hearing blacked out, too.

Despite the deadly poison in his veins, the boy found himself mumbling words he couldn't remember, clinging onto James as his consciousness started to flee out of his grasp.

It felt like an eternity until Regulus blinked his eyes open again, almost as if his soul had been halfway to the Underworld and returned back to his body through some outer force. For some reason, he felt the need to check his own heartbeat, hand placing over his chest to make sure he was alive. With relief, he noticed his chest rising and falling in an even rhythm with every in- and exhale, just like he felt his heart beating firmly underneath his palm. A sigh escaped his lips, to which a dark shadow cast upon him.

"You're alive!" someone yelled, throwing themselves around his torso, inevitably limiting his sight to brown messy curls. "Fuck, I thought we'd lost you."

"All thanks to your healing abilities," another voice added, and slowly Regulus recognised the two. They were James and Sirius.

Immediately, he remembered what had happened just seconds before he passed out and pushed James just far enough away to look him in the face. There was a new scar on his forehead, almost looking like white lightning covering half his forehead from his hairline to his eyebrow. "You're alive," the curly-head whispered.

"I am." And there it was. The bright signature grin. The light. James steadied himself by placing one hand on either side next to Regulus, staring down at him. "So are you."

Gently, Regulus cupped the older boy's face with one hand and started tracing the scar lightly with his index finger. "Are you okay?" he asked, searching for the gaze of the comforting hazel eyes.

James breathed softly through his mouth, nodding jerkily as his eyes flickered across Regulus' face. "And you? You were dead for two seconds."

"Mhm," the boy uttered, almost wanting to close his eyes to enjoy the feeling of the older boy's skin underneath the pads of his fingers, but then he would miss this beautiful sight.

A loud fake-coughing noise ripped them out of their trance, both boys turning their heads to look at Sirius standing next to them awkwardly with his arms crossed and eyebrows raised.